Where I’m sitting right now, I can see the row of vinyl anchoring our bookshelves. Some great stuff in there.
All lined up with no place to play.
I can also see our turntable, not hooked up, trapped in a cabinet that does not allow access enough to open the turntable’s lid. Then it hit me. There’s no need for special cabinet modifications and sliding drawers just to put a circular disc onto a spindle. CD Players have been managing that problem since the very beginning.
If I had a slot-loading turntable, I’d be good to go. I did a brief search for such a thing, and apparently they exist for 45’s, but the only one I found that might work for LPs was a dead link. But with today’s entertainment furniture, it seems like a no-brainer.
While we’re at it, perhaps we could replace the needle with a laser, and extend the lives of our precious vinyl albums.
IIRC the lazer turntable exists, but I’m too lazy to look for it.
You do know that even if the laser solution produced noticeably better sound, the pricks who are still buying vinyl would claim that only a needle would produce the “right” sound and refuse to buy the item.
I’m building a “real world” periodic table right now (care to contribute?) and I’m stunned to see how many elements needles have been made out of.
I could imagine some argument that the grooves were made with assumed mass to move that added a mechanical filter to the signal and that listening without that filter would be to distort the music. It would be nonsense, but someone would make it.
I used to have some spare titanium, but I think I left it in Prague.
A drawer loading turntable is the answer.
Sony did quite a range of them. Google Sony PS-FL
What a coincidence — the googling I was doing two days ago suggested the search “stereo cabinet with turntable shelf.” The results kept taking me to this:
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_494ATCA901/BellO-ATCA90111.html?tp=806&awkw=271298242017&awat=pla&awnw=g&awcr=161944027828&awdv=c&awug=9032160&gclid=CjwKCAjwgYPZBRBoEiwA2XeupZA-Tk8bU4XK5eNNkQSPsbsr3izTCWdE4tnZkYlPInZhRVTnTnN0HBoCSEwQAvD_BwE
which is far beyond my music-room budget.
Two days later the Google Gods have further digested my search and offer this:
https://jet.com/product/Novogratz-Baxter-Storage-Console/2c2e8bcfa1134fb2b61b5f3100bd2463?jcmp=pla:ggl:nj_dur_gen_furniture_a1:furniture_living_room_furniture_console_tables_a1:na:PLA_785111644_41985315276_pla-312802448079_c:na:na:na:2PLA15&code=PLA15&pid=kenshoo_int&c=785111644&is_retargeting=true&clickid=a584bc99-6096-4936-a011-2a73fcf41e14&kclid=a584bc99-6096-4936-a011-2a73fcf41e14&gclid=CjwKCAjwgYPZBRBoEiwA2XeupUpU_qL5i0Y3PWs_vmVVXIe9N0FrQxjbAo5BDP4hYKtpI6jGbD2LchoCrwkQAvD_BwE
which exceeds my music-room footprint allowance.
I guess I’ll wait two more days and see what the Gods have come up with.